NGC 5961 forms a pair with UGC 9920 3.7' S. The companion appeared very faint, very elongated 3:1 WSW-ENE, 0.45'x0.15', low surface brightness. A mag 14 star is just off the north edge 26" from the center. The redshift of UGC 9920 is 5x that of NGC 5961, so it lies far in the background.

Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 5961 = St XI-36 on 8 Jun 1880 and recorded "pF, S, E pf (small spindle)". His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): fairly faint, fairly small, very elongated 3:1 WNW-ESE, 0.9'x0.3', fairly high even surface brightness. A mag 12.5 star is just 0.9' ENE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb